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Smart & Easy Software Tips, Tricks & Techniques June 2004 - Issue 1
Publisher: Dawn Bjork Buzbee mailto:Dawn@SoftwarePro.com
The Software Pro(TM)
Microsoft Certified Office Expert
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IN THIS ISSUE - AVOID ANNOYING AUTOMATION
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There are a lot of great ways that Microsoft Office automates
steps and saves time. There are some automatic features that
are more annoying than helpful and should be turned off.
1. Microsoft PowerPoint: The worst feature in PowerPoint and
how to stop it
2. Microsoft Word: Why text automatically changes (even when
you don't want it to change)
3. Microsoft Word: Stop automatic numbered lists
NEXT ISSUE: Selecting Secrets
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1. The worst feature in PowerPoint
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Animated clipart? Obnoxious sound effects? Clashing colors?
All of these qualify as annoying features in PowerPoint but the
worst feature might just be AutoFit.
The purpose: AutoFit intentionally shrinks the size of lengthy
slide titles and bullet text as large amounts of text are added
to a slide. The reality: AutoFit encourages too much text on a
slide even though this is one of the top complaints from
audiences of PowerPoint slide shows. AutoFit reinforces terrible
habits in slide design by allowing text too small for
presentations.*
To turn off AutoFit, choose Tools > AutoCorrect Options, click
the tab for AutoFormat As You Type. Uncheck the 2 options under
the Apply as you type section: AutoFit title text to placeholder
and AutoFit bullet text to placeholder. Press OK to finish. This
change applies to the current and future PowerPoint
presentations.
* Text guidelines for PowerPoint presentations include bullet
text sized at 24 point or larger and title text no smaller than
44 point--more rules for slides in a future issue of Smart &
Easy Software Tips & Tricks.
AutoFit is found in PowerPoint 2003 & 2002/XP
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2. Why text automatically changes in Microsoft Word
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Does it seem like Word randomly changes the capitalization or
spelling of text in a document? AutoCorrect is to blame. As the
name indicates, AutoCorrect automatically corrects the spelling
of common misspelled words but also makes changes including
capitalizing the first letter in a sentence, table cell, or line
of text. To review your choices, select Tools > AutoCorrect
Options, choose the AutoCorrect tab and uncheck any option that
gets in the way of typing your text.
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3. Stop creating numbered lists you don't want
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Have you ever tried to create your own numbered list or outline
and watched the numbering or formatting change once you press
[Enter] for the next line? This is a huge annoyance for anyone
that wants to build their own custom layout for an outline
rather than working with the choices in Word. Do you type your e-
mail address or website into a document and then watch as it
suddenly changes to blue underlined text (a hyperlink)? Do you
ever enter fractions or quotes that automatically re-format?
You are a victim of AutoFormat As You Type. To customize Word
so that it works for you and not against you, choose Tools >
AutoCorrect Options, select the AutoFormat As You Type tab. My
recommendation is to uncheck all of the options in the last 2
sections including Automatic numbered lists. Turn off choices in
the 1st section as desired. Click on link to see an example of
this screen:
http://www.SoftwarePro.com/articles/wrd_autoformat.htm#autoformat
Automatic numbered lists can still be created via a toolbar
button or under the Format menu.
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Please pass this along to others who may appreciate it!
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Dawn@SoftwarePro.com
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